No One Compares
by sammyholst
Summary: Three years on from "Our Little Secret" and Damien gets a bit of a shock on an aeroplane in the form of a 14 year old boy. Angsty and a little fluffy.


I opened my eyes as I heard the 'ding' sound around the cabin. I saw that the noise had signified the seatbelt light turning off so I took the opportunity to un-belt and relax a little. After all England to America was a long flight.

I was grateful that the two seats next to me weren't occupied and congratulated my choice to fly before the end of a half-term as it meant that less families and school age children would be flying. I propped my legs up on the seats and rested my head against the window, feeling the cold plastic through my hair.

I let the relaxed feeling get the better of me and drifted off to sleep in the hope that when I woke up I would be landing on American ground.

-

I woke up with a start as I felt what seemed like the world moving beneath me. EARTHQUAKE my head yelled and I looked around myself frantically, taking in my surroundings and remembering that I was on a plane; it had just been turbulence.

I pushed my blonde-brown hair that was getting browner by the month out of my face and looked down at my wrist to check the time; half past five. The plane had only taken off at twenty-five past two and I groaned as I realised that I still had hours left of the journey. Why did half of my family insist of living on the other side of the world?

I turned my attention to the world below me out of my window and didn't turn away from it as I heard someone half shout "Damien?"  
I didn't know anyone else on the plane so I just assumed that there was another Damien that was being irritated by someone. The voice had been one that I didn't know; it sounded male, quite young, not squeaky like a little child yet not a late adolescent.

"Hey... Damien?" The voice was closer to me now and I rolled my eyes, assuming that it was one of the cabin staff that had done a little too much research on their passengers.

"No I don't wan-" I stopped and stared at the boy standing in front of me; wavy brown hair hanging almost past his face, dimples, short... I knew him somehow but just couldn't put my finger on it for a few seconds until I looked at his eyes; blue with a cheeky glint. Woah.

"Jared." I confirmed out loud and the boy in front of me grinned, flicking his hair to the side.

"Damien." He laughed back and gave my legs a nudge, "I take it these seats aren't taken?" He pushed my legs down and practically jumped onto the seat next to me which I didn't appreciate much.

"Well they're not now..." I grumbled and looked into his eyes only to be greeted by the feeling of my heart stopping and then leaping into my throat where it started up again, a thousand times faster than normal.

We sat in silence for a moment and I thought back to three years earlier when I had just met the boy next to me. How I had tried to dislike his cocky and confident ways but failed and ended up... not disliking him.

"You never wrote to me after we left." Jared broke the silence and I wished that he hadn't. I remembered the day we left each other when the school year had finished and I said I'd write to him...

_"We should say goodbye here really... Our seats aren't together and we can't really when we get home."_

"I'm really gonna miss you." Jared looked at me and I noticed that his eyes were filling with tears, yet he forced a smile onto his face.

"Hey, I'll write to you. You've got my address and I have yours. I'll come see you again too." I wiped a stray tear away from the littler boy's face and took his hands in my own, feeling my own eyes tearing up a little at the thought of leaving him.

"I know but... I just... I just wish-"

"I love you." I broke Jared's desperate stuttering off and leant down to press my lips against his, gently pushing my tongue into his mouth and moving my hands to run them through his hair. He had his hands tightly gripping my waist and pushed me down onto my bed which had been stripped of its bedding as it was the end of the school year.

"I love you too." He sniffed back and looked over at the clock, closing his eyes after he'd read the time, "We only have another half an hour together."

"Well let's make the most of it." I kissed him again and leant backwards, pulling him on top of me and then rolling us over so that he was beneath me.

I closed my eyes and took a breath before looking back at him (I hadn't realised that I'd looked away), "I... I... um. It was for the best?"

"Ha." Jared rolled his eyes and looked down at his feet before kicking his shoes off and pulling his knees up underneath his chin, reminding me of the day we first kissed and became a couple. I closed my eyes again and swallowed hard, knowing that it wasn't for the best that I didn't write.

"It killed me." I looked out of the window and cleared my throat, "Not writing to you killed me. I just thought that it'd be better for you because you were so young and it was so wrong-"

"So you thought that our whole time together was wrong? Nice." I noticed just how different Jared's voice was... just how much older he sounded. I bit on my lip and forced myself to stop thinking about how cute his voice used to be.

"No. Yes... no! Ugh, you were _twelve_ by the end and I was _eighteen_! I felt so wrong!" I hissed, desperate for no one to overhear our conversation.

"If you felt so wrong then why did you spend so long with me? Why did you even start with me?" Jared shouted back and I could feel my heart beating in my throat which was threatening to crack and refuse to let me speak.

"Because I fell in love with you!" I shouted back and then realised that the people in the row next to us were giving me disgusted looks. I ignored them and carried on in a quieter voice, "I loved you okay? I didn't want to end it with you because I didn't like the thought of not having you and I liked it when I woke up with you in my arms. I tried to forget that you were six years my junior, "not legal" and that I was effectively a paedophile, and just thought of how amazing you were."

"But you did end it..." Jared turned to face me and I saw that he was close to tears, "and you didn't even tell me." He had never been one to cry out in public spaces which just made me feel a whole lot worse.

"I shouldn't have done that." I absent-mindedly placed a hand on his shoulder and he responded by turning towards me and burying his face into my chest, breathing heavily onto my T-Shirt...

_"Happy birthday, shortass!" I'd been waiting all day for this moment. I hadn't been able to see Jared until after dinner because I'd had a day of revision and an exam that had me wanting to blow the damn school up. I'd forced myself to stay positive though because it was Jared's birthday and I wanted him to really enjoy his day._

"Hey! Be nice to me, it's my birthday!" Jared laughed and almost ran into my open arms to hug me.

"I'll try my best!" I wrapped my arms around him and made sure there was definitely no one around us before I kissed his hair, "Your present is in my room, wanna come get it?"

"Let me think about that!" Jared pulled away from our hug and pulled a "thinking" face before answering with "Of course!" And I poked him in the side before we walked up to my room together.

"Awesome, thanks!" Jared threw the wrapping paper at me and admired the baseball bat I'd got him. We'd walked past the shop with it in a few weekends back and he'd really taken a fancy to it so I'd got him it, along with a few packets of sweets and some chocolate because he did love his sugar.

"I got you a card too but don't read it with me around because I'll get embarrassed." I laughed and handed him a card.

"I like it when your cheeks go all red though..." Jared blushed a little himself and threw himself at me, so that we were both huddled up on my bed.

"Happy birthday." I smiled and kissed him before he could ruin the moment.

"I love you." He didn't ruin the moment much to my surprise and I pressed our foreheads together.

"I love you too." I kissed him again and was a little shocked when he pushed his tongue into my mouth. We'd kissed like that before but there was something different about it. He was being almost forceful and both of his hands were on my hips, pulling me closer to him.

"Wanted to see you all day..." he mumbled into my mouth and I felt his fingers playing with my waistband of my trousers, something he'd never done before.

"Well you have me now..." I mumbled back and without thinking, pushed myself against him causing him to let out a small groan.

I rolled myself on top of him and kissed down his clothed body, stopping at the button of the jeans he had on only to feel a hand on the back of my head, holding me in place, begging me not to stop. But I did stop. I looked up into the younger boy's eyes and noticed the desperation in them before a voice came from my throat:

"Are you sure you want to do this? I understand if you don't and I don't want to... hurt you." Despite what I was saying, I was reaching up to my drawer that had my... 'supplies' in (strangely I had prepared for this).

"Yes. I love you. This is what you do when you love someone." Jared responded, his voice shaky, forcing a reassuring smile onto his face...

"Would he like a sick-bag?"

"What?" I snapped at the annoying English air host that was gesturing towards Jared who was curled up against me, clearly trying to rip my heart out as pay back for the last three years.

"Uh... is he okay?" The host dropped his hand and raised his eyebrows.

"He's fine..." I mumbled and stroked the younger boy's hair which caused the man's face to twist into a confused expression.

"Okay... Enjoy your flight sir." The air host hastily turned away and I nudged Jared on the shoulder, desperate for him to say something.

"Stop it. Oi!" I hissed and pushed him away only to get a response in the form of him laughing and doing an impression of the air host, followed by me snapping back at the man. I rolled my eyes and looked out the window, hoping that I would in fact wake up any minute in my own bed; far away from Jared.

"Haven't changed much have you? You're still antisocial and rude."

"Yeah? And you're still immature and irritating."

"That's why you love me."

I drew in a breath and swallowed hard at that. Yes. Yes it was one of the reasons why I loved him. _Loved_. I didn't anymore... I couldn't.

"How are things?" I croaked, not wanting to discuss anything that involved me and him anymore, "How's school?"

"Boring without someone to sneak off with during lessons." He smirked at me and flicked his hair out of his face. So much for steering away from the subject of 'us.' My face must've shown my disapproval of his answer so he continued, "Another two years and I'm gone! Can't wait... I hate the place."

"Are you not staying on for sixth form? Are you going to college?"

"Hell no! Gonna get me a job and move in with Peter. We've planned it all... He's gonna get some nice fancy job - probably in law - and I'm gonna get some job that doesn't require much work and then we're gonna live it up!"

"Peter..." I felt my stomach do something painful as I thought of how I'd seen the picture of the two of them together a few years ago and how they were still 'best friends' now, planning to live together. Surely they weren't more than that? "Law? I'm studying that..."

"Yeah, he wants to get into it... For the money I bet. You said you wanted to do that..." Jared looked down and I smiled a little... He'd remembered that I'd told him I was going to get into law.

"Yeah... I'll see you both in court some day when you've done something stupid and he's defending you." I nudged his arm with my own and relaxed a little.

"I'll do anything I can to see you again. Even if it means getting thrown in jail."

I tensed up again and instinctively put an arm round his shoulder, pulling him into me like we used to, "Well don't expect me to bail you out." I smiled to myself and he prodded me in the side - something he used to do whenever I wasn't listening to him or was doing something 'wrong'.

"Have you... Have you had anyone since me?" Jared was tracing circles on my stomach that was a lot less toned than it had been three years back, and causing goosebumps to appear on my arms.

"No." It was the truth. I hadn't even been able to look at anyone in that way since Jared let alone be with anyone. It was at that moment that it hit me; Jared could really be 'the one'. It sounded stupid and cliché but secretly I really did believe in all of that first love stuff.

"It's the darker hair. You were more of a catch when it was lighter... Please don't find someone else."

"Jared, I-" I wasn't sure how I'd planned on finishing my sentence and I didn't have time on planning it before Jared cut me off;

"Like... Don't find someone that means the same as I did. They can mean more, they can mean less, but I really don't want them to compare to me because nothing will compare to you. I know I'm only young and "have all my life" but I also know that I really did... do love you and no one can ever replace you."

"Oh God, I love you." The words just slipped out of my mouth in a state of panic and Jared's reply was pressing his lips against mine, followed by his tongue in my mouth and his hands on my waist, touching me as if his life depended on it. I tangled my fingers in his hair and felt my eyes burning as tears threatened to roll out as I knew I couldn't have Jared back - my Jared.

My brain was telling me to stop and to tell him that we couldn't do this but my heart was telling me that it was right, no matter how wrong it was. But then my head took over as it made me realise the circumstances; Jared was still underage and I was almost twenty one, we were on a plane and lived in different parts of the country.  
I pulled away and Jared made a sound of protest that really did make my tears threaten to start.

"I'm sorry." I croaked and ran a hand through my hair, forcing myself to look the other way when all I really wanted was in the other boy's eyes.

"Can't we just have this flight together?" Jared choked back and flicked his hair to the side, revealing the hurt in his eyes. The hurt in his eyes that I'd caused. I wanted more than just the flight together. We'd be landing soon and go our separate ways where we would probably never see each other again.

Instead of answering him I just put my arm around him and kissed his hair, taking the moment to breathe in his scent; it hadn't changed since we'd first met.

"Don't skip out of school, you're gonna go far some day. I have a feeling that this isn't the last I'm gonna hear of you."

"My dad says I'm going nowhere." Jared mumbled quietly and I squeezed his shoulder lightly, causing him to wriggle.

"To hell with him. Prove him wrong."

Jared hummed a happy little noise and I buried my face in his hair, planting another kiss there. I wanted to make the most of the time I had left with him even if it was just a couple of hours. I knew that a plane flight would never make up for the painful three years I'd caused but seeing his cheeky little smile and glint in his eye would leave me with a memory that would get me through tough days.

-

We said good bye on the plane just before the seat belt sign came off after landing and he promised me he wouldn't drop out of school. I promised him that I'd never find someone that would compare to him.  
I could still taste his kiss as he walked out of the luggage hall, yelled "Peter!" excitedly and ran into a taller, dark haired boy's arms with a smile on his face. Jared had said that his parents were booking him a cab home. Peter was sure a great friend to meet him at the airport.  
As I waited for my uncle I watched as the two boys exchanged conversation and the woman with them played about with Jared's hair probably commenting on how he needed it cut.  
Peter also played with Jared's hair and the smaller boy batted his hand away only to be pulled into another hug. They walked away arm in arm and I knew right then that Jared had found someone that would fill the hole that I'd made. Someone that he would have a fantastic future with.


End file.
